Kraus Anderson breaks ground on new Gustavus building

Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter broke ground last Friday on a $30 million academic building that will sit on the site of its old football stadium.

The private Lutheran college is developing the 125,000-square-foot, three-story building to house its Communication Studies, Economics and Management, History, Psychology, and Sociology and Anthropology departments

The building should be completed by September 2011.

Kraus Anderson Construction is the general contractor and BWBR Architects designed the building, according to Matt Thomas, a spokesman for Gustavus.

The college built a new football stadium two years ago and this land was available for classroom expansion, Thomas said.

The school built a residence hall about five years ago, but hasn’t done much other construction since it made upgrades to the campus after a 1998 tornado.

The academic building is a component of $44 million in capital projects approved by the College’s Board of Trustees in January. It’s also planning to expand its mall area and renovate the Anderson Social Science Building.

Gustavus is shooting to reach at least gold-level certification as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design project.